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Valiant
' |image= |series= |production=40510-546 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Ronald D. Moore |director=Michael Vejar |imdbref=tt0708657 |guests=Aron Eisenberg as Nog, Paul Popowich as Tim Watters, Courtney Peldon as Farris, David Drew Gallagher as Riley Shepard, Ashley Brianne McDonogh as Collins, Scott Hamm as Parton, Majel Barrett as Federation Computer and Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn |previous_production=The Reckoning |next_production=Profit and Lace |episode=DS9 S06E22 |airdate=6 May 1998 |previous_release=(DS9) The Reckoning (Overall) Demon |next_release=(DS9) Profit and Lace (Overall) One |story_date(s)=51825.4 (2374) |previous_story=The Reckoning |next_story=Demon }} Summary En route to Ferenginar, Jake and Nog are attacked by a Jem'Hadar vessel. When they are suddenly beamed aboard the U.S.S. Valiant, a Defiant-class warship, Nog recognizes the crew of young adults as Red Squad, an elite corps of Starfleet cadets. The 22-year-old captain, Tim Watters, explains that his crew, originally on a training mission, became trapped in Dominion space when the war broke out. All of the regular officers were killed, but before he died, the captain ordered Watters to assume command. With Starfleet unaware of the situation, Watters is trying to complete the Valiant's mission to gather data on a new Dominion battleship. Caught up in Watters's fervor, Nog agrees to join the crew as Chief Engineer. While Nog and Watters hit it off, the captain is less enamored of Jake, the only civilian on the ship. When a member of his crew, Chief Collins, becomes homesick after speaking with Jake, Watters calls the young Sisko into his office and warns him to stay away from her. Nog successfully completes his first assignment, which is to adjust the Valiant's warp capabilities, by making the same modifications he once saw O'Brien make to the Defiant. He proudly tells Jake of his accomplishment, but his friend is upset that Nog joined the Squad so quickly. Their conversation is suddenly interrupted when the ship goes to Red Alert — the target is in sight. The crew carries out their mission without being detected, but Watters rallies them to now attempt to destroy the enemy ship. Although Jake says that the plan is too risky, Watters only has to remind the group that they're Red Squad — capable of doing anything — and the room erupts in cheers. Even Nog gives the plan his support. Later, Jake confronts his friend over what he believes is a suicide mission and reveals that he has spoken with Collins against orders. Watters, secretly watching on a monitor, has Jake arrested and sent to the Brig. The battle begins, and the Valiant sustains heavy damage. When the torpedo specially rigged to destroy the Dominion ship doesn't work, the enemy retaliates by unleashing an all-out attack. Soon, Nog and Collins are the only two left standing. After freeing Jake from the Brig, the three manage to flee in an escape pod moments before the Valiant explodes. The Defiant picks up the three survivors, and Nog, shaken by the experience, resigns from Red Squad. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Character error # When Nog is promoted to chief engineer on board the Valiant, he is given the rank of Lieutenant Commander. However, throughout the rest of the episode, he is seen with only two pips (one full pip and one "hollow" pip) signifying the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Either the other pip is hidden, or there weren't enough spare pips available. # Watters claims a battlefield commission, but his story later is that he took over when the actual commissioned officers were all killed. The death of a superior officer would only place him in command until a commissioned officer would arrive. As such, Nog, being commissioned already, should automatically become the ship's captain upon his arrival. As an already existing member of Red Squad, Watters may believe himself to be the legitimate CO. Nit Central # Corey Hines on Monday, December 14, 1998 - 12:07 pm: Just a quick point. With a ship full of cadets, technically, Nog is the senior officer and shouldn't have to take orders from anyone. Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Tuesday, December 15, 1998 - 12:58 am: I beg to differ, The Captain gave a promotion to the leader of Red Squad making him a captain as well. Ensign Nog would still have to take orders from the Captain despite the fact he is a cadet. ScottN on Tuesday, December 15, 1998 - 9:34 am: Besides, the commander of any ship has absolute authority. Even if Nog were an Admiral, the Red Squad captain would be in command. Bruce Ismay on Wednesday, December 16, 1998 - 12:33 pm: I quite agree that a ship's Captain has complete authority over his vessel. Now, Captain Smith, would you please increase Titanic's speed to 21 knots so we can arrive in New York City on Tuesday night. Spockania on Wednesday, December 16, 1998 - 5:28 pm: Actually, if Nog were an Admiral or an Ambassador he would have authority to take over the ship. We've seen this done in the past. Still, the point applies since Nog is only an ensign. Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Wednesday, December 16, 1998 - 8:32 pm: Nog would have to be a captain or better to order the captain of the Valiant around. Can some of the military people at nitcentral help out with this argument? Chris Thomas on Tuesday, February 23, 1999 - 11:36 pm: They are no longer cadets because they earned field commissions - like O'Brien and, as such, their ranks stand in this instance so Nog has to obey the Captain.Mike Konczewski on Wednesday, February 24, 1999 - 6:47 am: Bruce--Captain Smith was well within his rights to ignore "your" order to increase the Titanic's speed that night. Smith knew he had the maritime authority and, since this would have probably been his last trip before retiring, knew that "you" couldn't do anything to harm his career. Smith's decision to do so was done by his own free will. # Aaron Dotter on Wednesday, February 24, 1999 - 1:19 pm: Why didn't they convert over to the normal uniforms and stop wearing that fancy Red Squad pin? Lea Frost on Wednesday, February 24, 1999 - 1:23 pm: No reason, other than that they look younger in the cadet uniforms -- it emphasizes the fact that this is basically a bunch of kids (relatively speaking..."kids" who are my age! :-) ) on a starship. # Anonymous on Tuesday, April 20, 1999 - 8:43 am: I have seen this episode twice - once when it came out last season as a new episode, and once a couple of weeks ago. When I first saw it I didn't like it all. I then decided to watch it again a couple of weeks ago to give it a second chance. I ended up hating it even more the second time. Don't get me wrong, I usually love DS9. It was just that this episode rubbed me the wrong way. Here's why: 1) The Premise - I feel that it is totally implausable that the captain of a Starfleet vessel would allow a cadet to take command of his ship. I don't care how good Red Squad is supposed to be, a Starfleet captain needs to have experience. As the original captain was dying he should have ordered the cadet captain to take the ship back into Federation space to receive a proper crew. And even if he didn't have the opportunity, the cadet captain should have been smart enough to realize that for him to continue the mission would be wrong. Jennifer Fischer on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 3:20 am: I agree the kid captain should've returned to HQ on his captain's death. Of course, if he did, there would be no show but that's beside the point. 2) The Acting - I have found that in most Star Trek episodes involving young actors, the young young actors are invariably bad (Molly for example). Even though the actors in this episode are teenagers, I found their performances to be forced and hardly natural - esspecially the performances of the first officer and captain. The medical officer that managed to escape with Jake and Nog wasn't. Jennifer Fischer on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 3:20 am: I don't like kid actors either. Of course, I wasn't impressed with Jake at first... I thought Wesley Junior, know what I mean? Some definitely needed some more acting lessons before taking on these roles. 3) The Writing/Story - There were several instances throughout this episode where I found myself cringing and thinking to myself "This is not right!!" I can't think of all of them right now but I do remember that most of them had to do with Jake's role in the episode. Jake seemed to be the only one who was making any sense all throughout the episode. However, whenever he tried to say something he was repremanded and thrown in the brig. Since when was talking a crime. What about free speech!! That first time, all he was doing was talking to that girl about home - there was no incitement for mutiny or anything like that - it was just a civilian having a conversation with a officer about home. There were no ill intentions to Jake's actions, however the captain choose to repremand him and forbid him from talking to the girl again. If anyone should have been repremanded it should have been that girl for allowing her emotions to get out of control - but even then, I don't think a captain can tell someone how they should feel. This was just one example of many that this crew was not prepared for the task. Yet no one seemed to notice. That brings me to my final reason for disliking this episode. ''Jennifer Fischer on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 3:20 am:''You're right, there was no reason to treat Jake the way he was. Although it didn't have me cringing, I was too caught up in the impending showdown. 4) The Bad Ending - After the three surviving crewmembers of the Valiant have been rescued by the Defiant, Nog says something like "the captain was bad but it was a good crew." To me, this suggests that throughout the entire episode they haven't learned anything. The crew of the Valiant was horrible!! They were all way too inexperienced to start with. And despite their distinguished Red Squad status, they were all too dumb to realize that what they were doing was wrong. That was something only Jake could see, and he's not even a Starfleet officer. I would really hate to see what the next generation of starfleet officers will be like if their elite are this dumb. Jennifer Fischer on Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - 3:20 am: I don't see anything totally wrong with the ending. Since Red Squad is so elite. I believe the freshmen cadets have been so conditioned on pep talks like "you're great, we're great, we're going to be a great team, we're the best, we're #1, we're unstoppable ad naseum..." When impressionable young minds are fed things like that constantly you begin to swallow it. What really suprised me is that no one was sympathetic to Jake. I'm glad that was the case. If Jake and a sympathizer covertly took over the ship or ousted the captain, that's when I would've screamed PREDICTABLE! That would've been a bad ending. As it was, I was glued to my set wondering how far the death toll would go. I was almost crying with the CPO. To her, she had to watch all her comrades die for nothing. She may still believe in her captain, but she'll have that lesson haunting her for the rest of her life. Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine